image [https://i.imgur.com/XIZL0SH.png]

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Victor looked at the census sheet before them. He blinked his eyes rapidly, and he could feel his heartbeat speeding up as he played out the upcoming battle in his head.

“We only have eleven mages‌,” Victor said. “They are all weak. It’s doubtful they’d be able to fight back against so many hounds on their own.”

There were easily over a hundred beasts outside. Even with magic spells, eight of their fighters were only Rank 0.1.

“And the civilians have no means to fight back on their own.”

Kamal, being an exception, anyone else would be dog food if they came face to face with a magical beast.

“That’s not the only problem.” Khang sighed as he came up to Victor. “The sun is going down.”

Shit. Victor thought. Delsie's voice came to his mind. ‘Light magic only worked in the presence of powerful light energy. When the sun went down, the light energy in the surrounding area would also go down drastically,’

“How much time do we have left?” Victor asked.

“Less than an hour,” Khang replied.

Hmm, Victor thought. The magical beasts had made no sign of attacking yet. He miscalculated, he thought he’d have more time.

“Could it be?” Victor said. “Are the beasts waiting for the sun to go down?”

“How can that be possible?” Kamal said. “They’re monsters. They don’t have that kind of intelligence.”

“Basto disagrees!” Yuuki shouted from the corner of the room. The large Bastodon was sitting there, looking like a large displaced boulder. It huffed at Kamal’s words.

“Eheheh…” Kamal laughed awkwardly and sat down on the floor, pulling out a vial of Sun Whiskey. “This old man needs a drink–”

Victor snatched the bottle out of his hand.

“Hey!” Kamal said. “Respect your elders sonny, that’s my drink!”

“Where did you get this?” Victor asked, eyeing the bottle.

“There’s a whole crate of them over there–Give me that back!”

Victor walked over to Khang and showed him the bottle of whiskey in his hand.

“Now is not a time to be drinking, foreigner.” He said, his moustache curved downwards as he frowned.

Victor chuckled. “As much as I wish I could have a drink right now–” Victor’s words cut off as he thought of Taiyo. His heartbeat sped up, and his palms sweated from anxiety.

Clang

He dropped the bottle to the floor.

“You sure you’re okay?” Khang asked, picking up the bottle Victor dropped. He clicked his tongue at the whiskey on the floor.

“What a waste,” he said.

“Yes, apologies.” Victor said, trying to push his emotions down. “This whiskey. Try imbuing it with magic.”

Khang raised an eyebrow at Victor, but complied. The bottle lit up, and an amber light emitted from the scarlet glass.

Victor walked over to a group of younger lads. They were repurposing tools into weapons.

“Can I have that?” Victor pointed to a large black cleaver with gold engravings and a red cloth tied around its hilt. It was nearly as tall as the boys working on the tools.

“That’s the Bastodon cleaver,” the lad said. “It’s too heavy for anyone to wield it–”

The lad's jaw nearly hit the ground as he watched Victor pick up the cleaver with one arm. It was huge, the blade itself nearly being half the length of his entire body.

“This thing is nearly four feet long.” Victor nodded. “It’ll work perfectly.”

Victor dumped the amber liquid onto the blade. The Whiskey coated the cleaver, and Victor smacked the blade against a piece of metal, creating sparks which set it ablaze.

“Not inside, you idiot!” Kamal shouted. “You’ll burn this whole temple down!”

“That’s the plan.” Victor smirked.

This is perfect. Victor took a deep breath. The villagers could fight back by imbuing their weapons with Sun Magic.

“How did you do that?” Khang asked, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head.

“Light magic doesn’t come from the sun alone,” he said. “Alcohol is flammable, and flames emit light energy.”

“How do you know so much about sun magic?” Khang asked.

“An old… friend once told me.” Victor’s face fell as he said this.

“I see,” Khang said. An impressed smile covered his face. “This friend of yours must be a genius.”

She was, Victor thought. That same old pain gripping his chest.

“Imbuing the alcohol should make it more potent,” he said, changing the topic. “We can infuse the normal villager’s weapons with sun magic to give them a fighting chance.”

“Gather all the mages!” Khang shouted. “We begin at once!”

“While they’re preparing.” Victor walked over to Kamal and handed him a piece of paper. “We do this.”

image [https://i.imgur.com/LzWR1Fq.png]

“Hmm?” Mr Kamal squinted his eyes, unfolding the piece of paper. “What’s this?”

“A map,” Victor said. “We’ll identify points to defend against the beasts. Taking them head on won’t be enough.”

“The alleyway between the housing and the stables,” Kamal said. “We can funnel the beasts through there. It’d give the villagers a way to fight them off one by one.”

Victor’s eyes lit up when he heard this. “You old codger, that’s a great idea!”

“Who are you calling an old codger?!” Kamal said.

“There’s just one problem…” Victor said.

“Our backs will be wide open.” Kamal nodded.

Victor frowned. For now, the beasts hadn’t moved. But every second lost was another second where the mages were inoperative.

“What if you used the last remaining magic to summon a giant sun and destroy everything?” Victor asked.

“Impossible.” Khang approached them. “Nobody here has the level of control needed for the embrace of heat. Maybe if Pawan was here…”

“Not even Garyu?” Victor asked.

Kamal sighed. “That son of mine has taken on spells outside of our village. He does not understand Yiho’s grace.” Kamal’s ears turned red from rage as he spoke.

Several howls echoed out in the distance. Many of the villagers trembled in fear, some children started crying.

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Victor’s eyes darted back and forth. So they were without defence, and without a plan.

“How much time do we have left?” Victor shot his head towards Khang.

“About 15 minutes,” Khang replied.

“Everyone!” Victor called the villagers. “Gather around me!”

We can’t wait until sundown, he thought.

The surrounding villagers crowded around Victor. He brandished his flaming cleaver towards them. They all muttered in response.

“What is that…”

“He’s wielding the Bastodon cleaver…”

“Everyone,” Victor said. “The Sun will go down in roughly 10 minutes.”

Terrified expressions covered some of the villagers' faces. Others looked outside the window to see the darkness taking over the sky. “Great Yiho,” some of them muttered.

“But we still have a chance,” Victor said. “ Look at these flames.”

Victor held up the cleaver, and the blazing fire on its edge glowed red.

“We can fight back,” he said. “Take up tools from the boys over there–”

“Cease this nonsense at once!” The doors burst open, and a bald figure walked into the temple room.

“It’s Garyu!”

“Garyu is here!”

“Yiho, we’re saved!”

Several villagers heaved sighs of relief. Other’s faces lit up as they saw him.

“You want the civilians to fight back against the beasts?” Garyu shot a scathing look towards Victor. “Are you trying to get us all killed?”

“Look!” Victor pointed the blade at the sky. He gnashed his teeth, and his voice became a growl as he looked at Garyu. “Your strategy has already killed people! I’m doing this to fucking keep us alive, Garyu!”

“Enchanting the Bastodon cleaver is a good idea,” Garyu nodded. His previous demeanour changed to utter calmness. “However…”

Garyu took a makeshift spear out of one of the boy’s hands. Taking an enchanted bottle of Sun Whiskey, he poured it over the spear, and ignited it.

The spear burst into flames, which quickly burned through the hilt, charring it, and the metal tip melted into a puddle on the wooden floor, which ignited from the heat.

Victor’s eyes widened at seeing this and he took several steps back.

“Bastard,” Victor said, “What did you do?”

“The Bastodon cleaver is designed for absorbing high amounts of Sun Energy,” Garyu said. “Your average makeshift weapons will soon burn before you can enchant them.”

This can’t be right, Victor thought. Light magic isn’t supposed to melt through anything.

Garyu dropped the burning spear to the ground. Victor knelt down to look at the ashes. What went wrong?

“Wait,” Victor said. “Is it because I used fire instead of directly using light?”

The nearby villagers who heard this scowled at him.

“I thought we were onto something,” Khang said to Garyu, letting out an enormous sigh. “What do we do now?”

“Ignore whatever deceit this foreigner has placed in your mind,” Garyu said. “Civilians will remain on the temple grounds. Mages gather with me. We will perform a ritual known as the blood enchant. We’ve got precious little time left, the sun is dropping,”

Garyu walked past Victor, who was kneeling. He stopped as he saw Ruyi’s dad.

“Sorry about your son,” Garyu said.

The large man clasped his hands together and bowed.

Garyu and the mages walked onto the stage. Garyu sat down in the centre, and the remaining mages sat in a circle around him.

“Isn’t this dangerous?” Khang asked.

“No need to worry,” Garyu said. “I’ve been priming my sun energy for this.”

Khang nodded, taking his position.

The eleven mages began chanting different prayers. Their voices overlapped, sounding more like noise than actual prayers.

Blood enchant… Victor thought. He's using that technique?

“What are they doing?” Kamal asked, his brow wrinkled in concern.

“I’ve seen this technique once before from a life user,” Victor said. “Just as you would imbue an item with sun energy, you instead imbue it into the human being. It can be extremely dangerous. Only someone who has finished saturating their blood in Rank 1 can do it.”

Kamal’s face only fell further. Victor felt some satisfaction from this, as if he had just got back at Garyu.

At least your father isn’t happy with you, Victor thought.

Strings of Sun Energy emanated from the 11 mages surrounding Garyu, and they all wrapped around his body, forming a cocoon. The light in the room darkened, and the only source of light became Garyu’s glowing form in front of the statue of Yiho.

Many villagers bowed down in worship as they saw this.

Seriously? Victor thought. You’re bowing to him?

Garyu’s form shifted inside the cocoon of light. His arms moved, and the light gradually depleted, as if his body was sucking it in. Many of the surrounding mages coughed, and two weaker ones fainted. Their family members rushed up the stairs to support them.

The light completely depleted from the cocoon, and an arm out from the inside, ripping it open. The arm glowed red. As if all the blood in his body had a light inside of it, Garyu exited the cocoon. The clothes on his body had burnt off, revealing a lean, muscular frame underneath. The same reddish golden glow of light covered his entire body.

He opened his eyes, and the golden light mixed with his green pupils, giving him an eerie appearance.

“Robe me,” he said.

Some villagers brought a white priest’s garb and draped it over his shoulders. Garyu clenched his fist, sparks coming out of his hand.

“Good.” He smiled, and his greenish yellow pupils gave him a menacing countenance. “This is very good.”

Garyu stepped over the fainted mages around him, exiting off the stage.

“I will now go fight off the beast’s hoard,” Garyu said. “The rest of you, wait here.”

“I’m also going,” Victor said, his heartbeat speeding up.

Garyu eyed him for a moment, but turned around.

“Don’t get in my way, foreigner. Or I will kill you.”

Victor grunted. Taking up the Bastodon cleaver, he walked towards the door.

“Victor!” Yuuki and Kamal were staring at him, so were the other villagers.

“I can't leave it to that bastard,” Victor said.

“Will you be okay by yourself?” Yuuki asked.

“Don’t worry,” Victor put a hand on Yuuki’s shoulder. “I’m a Mythril adventurer, after all!”

“Don’t get yerself killed,” Kamal said. “The fields are going to need a lot of ploughing once this is over.”

“Blasted old man,” Victor smiled, pushing up his sleeves.

“I’ll come with you!” Yuuki said, moving to get on the Bastodon.

“No!” Victor said. Thoughts of Rivan's death earlier crossed his mind. “I can’t have anyone else die. Yuuki, you must stay here and protect everyone.”

Yuuki frowned, but eventually shrugged his shoulders and relented.

“Fine,” he said.

Victor nodded, making his way out the doors. The Village looked like a natural disaster had hit it. Magical beasts roamed the streets, and countless buildings and monuments lay smashed on the floor. Countless stars were visible in the sky, and the last view of the light from the horizon came before sinking into the night.

“Shit, I can’t see anything,” Victor said. He hyperventilated. A fight with limited visibility would be troublesome.

“Let me fix that for you,” Garyu said.

Garyu shot jets of sun energy through his feet, propelling him into the air above the market square. His entire body was radiant, like a miniature sun above the village.

“Great Yiho!” He roared, locking eyes onto a pack of 20 black hounds. “Smite my foes!”

Garyu pushed his hands out towards the pack of hounds, and a massive beam of light shot from his palms to the ground. Garyu incinerated the beasts without giving them so much as a chance to scream.

“Such power–”

Garyu spun around, and the beam of light shot in a circle around the market square.

Victor jumped out of the way just in time, explosions erupting next to him from Garyu’s attack. He pushed himself off the ground, rubbing the dirt off his face

“This Bastard!–”

“Hahaha!” Garyu shouted from the sky. “This is what Yiho’s omnipotence feels like! Can you do this, ‘Mythril’ Adventurer Victor?!”

Victor clenched his fists at Garyu’s taunting. Looking up, his attack had lit countless buildings and shops on fire.

I can see now, Victor thought. But did he have to destroy the village to do so?

Victor made a beeline to the alleyway that he and Kamal spoke about. Garyu could easily handle the market square, but beasts would keep coming in from the back.

He looked down to see three black hounds lined up, feasting on the body of two villagers who fell on the run towards the temple.

Did they drag the corpses back here to eat? Victor thought. These black hounds were smaller than the others he had seen. Maybe they were juveniles.

A blood-curdling shriek came from further down the alleyway. The three juveniles looked up, their ears turned downward in fear. They ran towards Victor, trying to get away from whatever was behind them.

Two more shrieks echoed from the market square.

“Shit!” Victor’s face flushed red. The three hounds were coming straight for him!

Victor took out his cleaver. As he poured more Sun Whiskey onto the blade, the flames intensified. He tossed the bottle aside, getting into a battle stance.

“I’ve never used a sword before,” he said, drawing the giant sword to his waist. “Delsie’s rapier techniques better come in handy…”

Victor thrust out the cleaver like it weighed nothing, skewering one hound in front of him. The other two jumped over their companion, trying to jump at Victor’s neck.

“In an enclosed space like this.” He quickly raised the cleaver above his head. “The winner all comes down to whoever is strongest!”

Victor swung the cleaver down, slicing a second hound in half. The third looked at fear in Victor, turning around and running back into the alley.

A growl that vibrated the very ground beneath Victor came from down the alley. A giant purple paw struck the tiny juvenile under it, squashing it.

Two large, feral eyes fixated on Victor. A giant, purple Fox type beast towered over Victor.

“This bastard is even making me feel small…” Victor said, his shoulders slumping.

The Demon Fox licked its paw, which was covered in blood. It looked at Victor, and its snarl turned into a wide grin as it looked at him. Seismic Vibrations came from the ground underneath him, threatening to knock him over.

Victor’s heart sank. A Rank 1 demon hound.

And he was staring it down with nowhere to go…